


In Sickness

by Lynx22281



Series: Howl at the Moon [5]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Fluff, M/M, Mpreg, Sick!Dean, Werewolves, omega!dean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-19
Updated: 2015-06-24
Packaged: 2018-04-05 02:34:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4162395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lynx22281/pseuds/Lynx22281
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean groaned into the toilet bowl.  This was the tenth time in the last three hours that he'd been bent over the commode.  Surely there wasn't anything left of lunch, breakfast, or last night’s dinner in his cramping stomach.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Dean groaned into the toilet bowl. This was the tenth time in the last three hours that he'd been bent over the commode. Surely there wasn't anything left of lunch, breakfast, or last night’s dinner in his cramping stomach.

 

 _Belch_.

 

On second thought...

 

He couldn't help the absolutely pitiful whine that rode the tail end of the green acid that came up. Blindly, he flapped his hand at the lever flushing away the nastiness his stomach was rebelling against.

 

The worst part of this was that he was completely alone in his misery. Cas had left yesterday, heading off to the regional council meeting for the next week. The alpha had wanted Dean to go with him, but Dean backed out saying he thought he might be coming down with something. Well, at least he wasn’t a complete liar at this point. In truth, he just hadn’t wanted to deal with being shown off as a newly bonded omega in the middle of one of the biggest werewolf gatherings in the area. The Novaks might have been progressive in their little section of the mountains, but the rest of the south still thought omegas were just pretty things to put on pedestals for looking at. It wasn't a horrible way to be treated, it could always be so much worse, but Dean had seen the spouse itinerary for the week – socials, charity committee meetings, mint julips at the country club, doubles tennis, and shopping excursions into Savannah. None of it was his cup of tea.

 

Actually, at the moment, a cup of tea sounded pretty good. Warm and neutral for his poor battered throat. Though he wasn't sure he had the energy to make it himself. Thank goodness for being mated to an alpha who employed a house staff.

 

Dean hefted himself up to his feet, wincing when his abdominal muscles complained about the change in position, and padded over to the sink to wash off his face.

 

He looked like shit on a stick. It was amazing how fast being stomach-sick could make his cheeks hollow out. With a sigh at his refection, he shuffled back to bed grabbing his phone from the charger on the dresser as he passed. Carefully, he curled up on his left side, pulling the covers over his shoulder with one hand as he thumbed through his contact list with the other. He wasn’t quite sure who to call in this case, hating to bother any of them, which was the main reason why he hadn’t yet let anybody know he was sick.

 

Glancing over to the alarm clock on his bedside table, he figured the twins and triplets might be in the middle of their afternoon nap, so he sent off a text to Jess.

 

_[Message sent to Jess: 2:46pm] Busy?_

_[Message from Jess: 2:55pm] Sick puppies. Up to my ears in *poop emoji*_

 

Well, that explained where he got it from.

 

He thought about calling Colette, but it was Thursday afternoon and the chef was probably out making the weekly Costco run to stock the big kitchen for the weekend. He really hated to call Missouri, especially after she told him when they’d first been introduced to each other that she was the house manager, not a maid. The older omega hadn’t been unkind, but had made it clear that she wasn’t at anyone’s beck and call. He couldn’t even call Naomi, whose sole job was to be at someone’s beck and call, because she’d gone to the council meeting with Cas.

 

Dean’s phone buzzed and Jess’s name flashed up on the screen.

 

“Hey,” he grunted, voice rough from throwing up.

 

“Wow. You sound terrible,” Jess said, surprised. “I was gonna see if you could come help me hose down the bathroom before the next round of puking and pooping starts up, but I guess not, huh?”

 

“Yeah, I think the pups’ crud is on the loose.”

 

“Upset stomach?”

 

“Mmhmm,” Dean replied, frantically kicking off the covers as a sudden wave of heat prickled over his whole body bringing with it the urge to throw up again.

 

“Manny’s on his way home from the clinic. I’ll tell him to check in on you when he gets done with everybody over here. Do you need anything?”

 

“Tea,” he rasped before dropping his phone and bolting up from the bed in a mad dash back to the bathroom.

 

His stomach was completely empty, but he heaved anyway, not even bringing up any bile. He crossed his arms over the toilet seat, resting his forehead against his wrist. It wasn’t the most comfortable position, the tile floor was cold and hard, but he didn’t have the energy to push himself up to his feet and get back to bed. He was half-asleep when he heard a knock at the apartment’s front door that was quickly followed by the door being opened.

 

“Dean?” Missouri called gently from the living room.

 

He attempted to clear his throat to answer her, but it was too dry and sticky.

 

“Dean?” she called again, this time from the other side of the mostly closed bathroom door.

 

“Yeah,” he managed to croak as he levered himself up to sit on the edge of the toilet.

 

“Oh, darlin’,” she murmured softly when she finally laid eyes on him. She bustled into the bathroom, wrapping an arm around his waist to help him up to his feet. “Let’s get you back to bed, then I’ll get you a trashcan so you don’t have to get back down on the floor. Might as well be warm and comfortable while you’re miserable and don’t you worry none about dealing with the mess.”

 

The omega was so warm and soft, her soothing scent washing over him like a balm, that he couldn’t help the tears that sprang to his eyes at the comfort he found in her. Sniffling, he crawled back under the covers, letting her tuck them firmly under his chin.

 

“You been sick long?” She sat on the edge of the bed to stroke his sweaty bangs back from his forehead.

 

“Since after lunch.” He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been sick and gotten taken care of like this, not since his mom died at least. Ellen had been good to him, but the beta didn’t have the same innate maternal empathy that an omega had, which was why whenever anybody in their pack got sick Dean was the one who took care of them. He took to the task as natural as breathing and the betas always responded well to his care.

 

“Thrown up a lot?”

 

He nodded, noticing that the peppermint undertones of Missouri’s scent were stronger than usual and had already helped ease away some of his nausea.

 

She took a moment to lean a bit closer, inhaling deeper for a breath or two. The smile she gave him was a little sad, confirming for him that his nose wasn’t broken, that he really was sick. It would have been too much of a coincidence for his vomiting to be morning sickness when there was a stomach virus raging in the apartment across the hallway.

 

In the four weeks that had followed his last heat, he'd noticed Cas taking extra time to scent him several times a day, trying to catch the first sweet whiff of pregnant omega. His alpha had held him close for an extra-long moment before getting in the car yesterday morning. He hadn't missed the way Cas’s smile had dimmed just a bit in disappointment at the lack of the telltale sugary note to his normal scent. By now, Dean’s scent should have changed if he was carrying.

 

Missouri pulled a hard candy from her pocket, unwrapping it and handing it to him. “Ginger drop. If nothing else, it’ll make your mouth taste better.”

 

He took the offered candy, popping it in his mouth and sighing contently around the flavor of something other than sour stomach acid.

 

“I know Alpha keeps tea in your kitchen, but I brought up ginger ale and Gatorade from the big kitchen just in case you boys didn’t have any. Jess said you’d asked for some tea. Is that still what you want?”

 

Dean was torn between wanting something to drink to ease the unpleasant sting in his throat and wanting to keep Missouri perched on the side of the bed with her gentle fingers weaving through his hair, but he nodded knowing he needed to start replacing all the liquid he’d thrown up.

 

“Sure thing, precious,” she said with a soft smile.

 

He dozed off while she was out of the room fixing the tea, his discomfort alleviated by the candy in his mouth and the lingering scent of an omega in nurse-mode. When he roused again, there was an insulated travel mug on his nightstand and quiet voices coming from the living room.

 

As Dean reached for the mug someone knocked softly on the bedroom door. He must have been a sleep for a little while, long enough for the tea to have cooled off to the perfect temperature. Before answering, he took a quick sip, humming in relief at the warm liquid soothing his sore throat. “Come in.”

 

Emmanuel walked in with his black bag in hand and an apologetic smile on his face. “Never intended for you to get caught in the crosshairs of my family’s germ warfare.”

 

“Bound to happen in close quarters,” Dean said with a shrug as he set his mug down and pushed himself up to sit against the mound of pillows at the head of the bed.

 

"Unfortunately, the bug is making its way through town. People are dropping like flies, but it doesn’t seem to be too bad, as far as stomach bugs go. Nobody’s gotten sick enough to be hospitalized yet. Lemme get a look at you though so I can ease our worried Alpha’s mind.” Emmanuel set his bag at the foot of the bed and pulled out his stethoscope.

 

“Cas knows?”

 

“He saw the Facebook and Twitter updates from pack members and called Missouri to see how you were doing since you wouldn’t answer your phone.” The other omega helped Dean lift up his shirt so he could listen to his lungs and heart.

 

“I didn’t hear it ring,” Dean said, brow furrowing when he couldn’t immediately set eyes on his phone.

 

“Missouri stole it so you wouldn’t be disturbed.” He looped the stethoscope over his neck before placing his hands on Dean’s stomach. “I’m just going to press along your belly. Tell me if anything hurts.”

 

Emmanuel palpated his abdomen, starting up high under his ribs and gradually working his way down into his pelvis. Dean winced in discomfort at the pressure, especially south of his bellybutton, but nothing outright hurt. The doctor slid his hands back up to Dean’s chest, gently feeling around his pectoral muscles. Dean hissed at the touch, frowning at the unexpected soreness. His brother-in-law leaned in close, lightly tipping Dean’s head back so he could press his nose against the hollow of Dean’s throat. He stayed bent over, inhaling deeply, for nearly a full minute. One thing that made omegas such good healthcare workers was their ability to scent sickness. An omega’s nose was often times more accurate and quicker than a blood test.

 

When he was finally finished, he leaned back and sat down on the edge of the bed, sandwiching Dean’s hand between his. “Good news and bad news.”

 

Dean swallowed painfully. “Gimme the bad news.”

 

“You caught the same bug everybody else has.”

 

“Good news?”

 

Manny smiled, big and gummy just like his alpha-brother. “It was really hard to smell under the sick-scent, but you and Cas are gonna make me an uncle again.”


	2. Chapter 2

Cas sat in the back of a small conference room during a presentation on land management from the Pacific Northwest packs, distractedly fiddling with his pen. His thoughts kept drifting back to home where a stomach virus seemed to be running rampant through his household. He’d had confirmation that his nieces and nephews had all been hit, from the littlest pups on up to Claire, along with half the estate staff, but he still hadn’t heard from Dean yet.

 

He was the most worried about the omega, and not just because this was the first time they’d been apart since their bonding ceremony nearly a year ago. Something had been off with Dean in the couple of weeks leading up to Cas’s trip to the conference. He’d been tired and listless at the same time, either trying to become one with the couch or roaming around the grounds by himself, though both Cain and Victor assured the alpha that his mate was never truly alone.

 

The door opened, drawing Cas’s attention away from where he was pretending to follow the discussion at the front of the room.

 

Naomi caught his eye and tapped her ear piece before disappearing back into the hallway.

 

He stood up, grabbing his jacket from the back of the chair, and exited the room. Thankfully, most of the events today were drop-ins, so people were constantly coming and going and he drew no special notice by leaving.

 

“Dean’s sick too,” Naomi stated in her usual way of delivering the most important information in the most efficient way possible.

 

Castiel ran a hand through his hair. “He said he wasn’t feeling well before we left.”

 

The alpha had suspected that the reason Dean hadn’t wanted to come with him had less to do with his health and more to the do with being in unfamiliar territory surrounded other werewolves for a week. His mate was from a very small, very isolated pack, and was easily uncomfortable around strangers. It had taken Dean nearly the whole year of their courtship to begin to relax around the extended members of the Novak pack even though they had immediately and wholeheartedly claimed him and his kin as their own.

 

“Ion is waiting outside the lobby to drive you to the airport, sir.” Naomi placed a hand on his shoulder, ushering him down the hallway.

 

“Is it that bad?” he asked, panic blooming in his chest that his mate’s condition was more serious that he initially feared.

 

A small apologetic smile flashed across the beta’s face. “No, forgive me. Emmanuel says he will be fine, but I know you’ll be useless here worrying about him from afar. I will take notes from the meetings you were planning to attend this afternoon and Hannah is on her way to represent the pack for the rest of the event.”

 

Castiel breathed a sigh of relief as they made their way briskly to the front of the hotel where a big black Suburban waited just beyond the valet stand.

 

“I’ll call you later tonight to get an update on what was discussed this afternoon,” Castiel said as he slid into the passenger’s seat of the truck.

 

"Don’t worry about it. I’ll email you my notes and bring Hannah up to speed when she arrives later tonight.” Then, the beta’s face softened, which still took Castiel by surprise even though he’d known for years that her straight-laced appearance was not her true self. “Please tell Dean I hope he feels better soon.”

 

The alpha smiled at his assistant. “I will.”

 

She nodded and shut the door, signaling to the driver it was time to leave.

 

While the Novaks were a wealthy pack and the Alpha’s immediate family definitely benefited from that wealth, Castiel had never been one to flaunt the money he had access to. He either drove or flew commercial for any official pack business. At one time the Novaks had their own private jet, but it was an expense his father gave up in the early 90s. His father had been a good Alpha, paring down the excesses of his father and grandfather and investing much of the family’s personal wealth back into Angel Falls and the pack. Cas and his siblings carried on with the austerity placed on the family by their father. They each depended on their own earned incomes for the bulk of their daily expenses and hardly ever dipped into the trust funds setup for them by their parents.

 

However as Castiel jogged up the steps of a Learjet, he was forever grateful that he had the means to drop a couple thousand dollars to charter a private plane so he could be by his sick mate’s side in an hour and half, instead of the nearly five hours it would take on the highway.

 

Once they were at cruising altitude, he pulled out his phone to have a few things waiting for him on his drive from the airport to the estate and scrolled through updates from his siblings and their spouses. According to Amelia, Claire was already feeling better, but Jimmy’d had his head in the toilet for the last hour and didn’t seem to be getting up anytime soon. Manny texted that Benny and one of the older pups were still actively sick, but the others were finally sleeping. Hael wrote to say she was glad she was safely at school away from all the puking and hoped everybody felt better soon. Missouri let him know that Dean had been able to keep down some tea and saltines and had been asleep for the past hour. She assured the alpha that she’d stay with his mate until he got home.

 

The flight passed quickly with the constant messages back and forth to the folks at home and the occasional tidbit that Naomi found interesting from whatever panel she was visiting. Hannah sent him a picture of a car trailer traveling down I-85 carrying five brand new hearses and one brand new Corvette. He chuckled at the brief funny respite from news about his sick family.

 

The plane landed just before dusk and he hurried across the tarmac to the car waiting to take him into town. He expected to make several stops on the way home, but it seemed as though Naomi had intercepted his requests and had had the driver pick them all up on his way to the airport so that Castiel could be driven straight home. He tapped in a reminder to review his assistant’s upcoming quarterly bonus. Within 20 minutes, the town car was pulling up to the back of the house and Castiel was rushing out of the backseat, clutching a brown paper sack and a huge bouquet of yellow roses.


	3. Chapter 3

The room was darker than it had been when Dean woke up, so he must have slept for several hours.  He felt…well, better wasn’t quite the word he’d use, but at least he didn’t feel any worse.  His stomach seemed to have returned to its usual state of residing placidly in his abdomen, and he might be getting a little hungry, which was a big improvement from earlier in the afternoon, though the thought of food still wasn’t all that appealing.  His mouth tasted stale from falling asleep sucking on another one of Missouri’s ginger drops.  The candy was stuck to the inside of his cheek, so he fished it out with his tongue and crushed it with his teeth before swallowing it.

 

There was movement somewhere over by the door.  Dean figured it was the older omega coming to check on him again.  He’d been vaguely aware of her presence, hovering over him at regular intervals as unobtrusively as possible just to make sure he was still ok and didn’t need anything.  As he rolled over onto his back to stretch, he inhaled deeply, filling his nose with the bitter scent of worried alpha instead of the calm minty scent of omega.  

 

“Cas?” he asked, his tongue feeling thick from slight dehydration.  The alpha was standing by the foot of the bed with his arms full of stuff.  “What are you doing here?”

 

“You’re sick.”  Castiel whined low in his throat, dropping to sit on the side of the bed.  After setting his parcels down on the nightstand and turning on the lamp, he cupped his hands around Dean’s face, stroking over the omega’s cheeks with his thumbs.

 

Dean snorted softly as he leaned into the comforting touch.  “No reason to come home early.  I ain’t dyin’, you doof.”

 

The troubled look on Castiel’s face told Dean he wasn’t convinced otherwise, so Dean scooted away from the edge of the bed and pulled his mate down to lie beside him on top of the covers.  He was secretly glad that Cas had come home to him.

 

“Manny says it might take me a little longer than everybody else to get over the nausea, but I’ll be fine,” he said, trying to reassure his husband.

 

“Why would he say that?”  Castiel frowned, running a hand up and down Dean’s arm.

 

Dean drew his alpha’s head close to his neck, nudging him gently until his nose was pressed against Dean’s throat, but didn’t say anything, wanting Cas to figure it out on his own.  Now that he knew what to look for, he could detect the faint scent of burnt caramel if he buried his nose in his own armpit.  Manny said the acridness of the smell would dissipate once he was over the stomach virus, leaving just the rich sweetness behind.  He knew the instant Cas had deciphered the riddle when a deep rumble vibrated the alpha’s chest.

 

“Pup?” he asked, turning hopeful blue eyes up to the omega.

 

“Pup,” Dean confirmed with a smile.

 

Castiel’s worry was quickly replaced by complete elation as he tightened his arms around Dean, pulling him even closer and kissing him hard despite his bad breath.  He laughed, happy and light.  “We made a pup.”

 

“Finally,” Dean added with a grin as he snuggled closer to his mate. 

 

“I knew we would,” the alpha rumbled as he nosed against Dean’s throat again, taking in big inhales of early pregnancy scent.  His hands drifted down to the waistband of Dean’s sweatpants, gently petting his flat belly.  He hadn’t developed any extra squish yet and probably wouldn’t for a couple more months since this was his first pregnancy. 

 

A few minutes passed with them quietly basking in the good news before Cas leaned back with a frown.  “Are you sure this isn’t just pup sickness?”

 

Dean shook his head, stilling his wandering hand over Castiel’s heart.  “I’m the same kind of sick as everybody else.  Manny said he could tell there wasn’t a difference.”

 

“Is everything ok with the pup?  We should have been able to smell it before now.”  Concern was creeping back into Castiel’s tone, overtaking his joy.

 

“About that,” Dean began, resting his head against his mate’s shoulder.  “Your brother said you guys had gotten used to how fast his scent changed when he got pregnant.”

 

“His scent changed as soon as his heat ended.”  Castiel slid his hand over his omega’s hip, squeezing gently.

 

“Yeah.  He said his pregnancy scent was stronger faster because he was carrying multiples and they were all in wolf form from the moment of conception.  More than likely, we’re just having one and it’s in human form since my scent has been slow to change, but we won’t know for sure until the ultrasound.”

 

“But, the pup’s ok, right?  Even with you being sick?”  The alpha’s thumb stroked over the little patch of skin that was bared between the bottom of Dean’s t-shirt and the top of his pants.

 

“We both passed Manny’s nose-test,” Dean said with a smile.  Emmanuel had done a more thorough assessment once he sussed out the pregnancy and had given Dean the all clear as far as that was concerned for the time being.   “I wasn’t sick long enough to get overly dehydrated.  If I’m able to eat and drink without any problems over the next few hours, then we’ll know I’m over the bug.”

 

At the mention of eating, Castiel sat up and reached for the brown paper bag he’d set down on the bedside table.  “I brought you some soup and bread from Gabriel’s.”

 

Castiel’s cousin, Gabriel Milton, owned a very popular bakery and deli that was frequented by locals and tourists alike.  The restaurant’s main claim to fame was its huge soup bar that stocked chicken noodle, tomato basil, vegetable beef, and black bean soups everyday as well as three rotation selections that ranged from comfort food favorites like cheesy potato and chili to more exotic soups like borscht and ton-jiru.  In the summer months, he even had an iced tureen of gazpacho on the bar.  Everything was fresh and made on site.

 

“Think you can eat something?” the alpha asked as he pulled a clear plastic container of golden chicken noodle soup and a plastic spoon from the bag.

 

“Maybe a little bit,” Dean replied, wiggling out from under the covers to sit propped up against the pillows.  He scrubbed both palms roughly over his face to help wake himself up even more.

 

Castiel hunched over the container for a moment, indecisive about something before turning and looking at his omega with big puppy-dog eyes.  “Can I…feed you?”

 

Dean’s first instinct was to laugh and make a grab for the container because he could feed himself, _thank you very much_ , but he quickly came to the realization that his husband wasn’t trying to baby him.  Castiel _needed_ to take care of him.  It was essential on a very basic level for the alpha to provide for his mate and to make sure his beloved mate was pampered on occasion, especially now that Dean was carrying their pup.  It was an innate alpha thing to do, but Cas wasn’t doing it to belittle Dean in anyway.  Denying him would be cruel, especially since there wasn’t anybody around to witness the gesture.  Dean replied simply by opening his mouth.

 

The alpha smiled happily as he dipped the spoon in the broth and offered it up to Dean.  “I picked up a box of ginger-chamomile tea from Cuppa Cafe.  My mom always made it for us when we had upset stomachs.”

 

Dean sipped the soup, slowly, one spoonful at a time.  Once they were assured that his stomach wasn’t going to protest against having sustenance again, Castiel started fishing out a fat egg noodle or a chunk of roasted chicken or diced carrot on every fourth serving.  He tore off a little piece from the loaf of crusty sourdough and dunked it in the broth for Dean to nibble from his fingers.  Over half the soup was still left when Dean decided he was satisfied and didn’t want to risk eating more than his belly could handle for the time being.

 

Castiel kissed him gently on the forehead before gathering up the leftovers and taking them to their little kitchen to be put in the refrigerator.  He returned to the bedroom after putting the kettle on to make cups of tea for both of them.

 

Dean smiled when the alpha caught him fingering a silky petal from one of the dozen yellow roses in the glass vase sitting on the nightstand.  “You brought me flowers.”

 

“If the smell bothers you, I’ll move them out to the living room,” Cas offered as he sat down on the edge of the bed. 

 

“Nah, they’re fine.  Very pretty.  Thanks.”  Still smiling, Dean reached out to lace his fingers with his alpha’s.  “We’re gonna have a pup, Cas.”

 

His mate beamed bright like the sun and placed their entwined hands on the omega’s stomach before leaning in to kiss him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all the readers who've liked this series so far! I have ideas for more stuff, don't worry. :)


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